General In Charge Of US Forces In Afghanistan Says He Warned Biden About Bad Intelligence On Troop Withdrawal

afghanistan troop withdrawal

The top United States general in charge of military forces in Afghanistan up until July of this year says he opposed President Biden’s troop withdrawal plan and warned against intelligence suggesting the Afghan army could hold off the Taliban.

The Senate Armed Services Committee held a classified hearing with General Austin Miller on Tuesday afternoon.

Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich said that Miller, according to multiple sources at the hearing, “passed his recommendations through the chain of command.”

Those recommendations included the proposal “that the US should keep a level of troops on the ground … in order to maintain stability given the Taliban threat assessment.”

“Miller also said that he strongly dissented with the intel assessment that Afghanistan would fall to the Taliban between 1-3 years, saying he thought it would go much, much faster,” according to Heinrich.

He went on to state that “once his recommendation was turned down” he had to execute his orders regardless.

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Biden Was Getting Bad Intelligence on Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal

In addition to Miller’s insistence that Biden was getting bad intelligence regarding the Afghanistan troop withdrawal, Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin was informed that he repeatedly warned the President about the situation and advised as to his recommendation.

“[Griffin] is told [General] Miller had the ability to present his views to Biden on drawdown as well as his [recommendation] to keep troops in Afghanistan – several times before drawdown,” Heinrich tweeted.

“His assessments were included in Chairman of Joint Chiefs to NSC during the Afghan review before POTUS made his decision.”

The troop withdrawal plan eventually settled on by President Biden was an unmitigated disaster, resulting in a terror attack that claimed the lives of 13 United States service members, left hundreds of Americans stranded, and led to a drone strike by American forces that likely killed a seemingly innocent aid worker and his family.

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Biden Didn’t Listen

President Biden has repeatedly made the assertion that nobody could have predicted what was going to happen in Afghanistan.

“The intelligence community did not say, back in June or July, that in fact this was going to collapse like it did,” Biden told George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired last month.

“Not even close,” he added.

Miller’s reported testimony would seem to indicate the President was lying, having been briefed that the Taliban would take control “much, much faster.”

An NBC News report in July shows that Biden claimed “his military commanders had advised him to move swiftly” on the Afghanistan troop withdrawal.

Again, Miller’s comments seem to contradict him.

Miller stepped down from his position, having been the longest-serving US commander throughout America’s nearly two decades of military involvement in Afghanistan, in July.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) blasted the President saying his actions were not consistent with advice being given by his generals on the ground.

“It is apparent that the decision that was made by the president was different than the advice given by his military commanders,” Blackburn said after hearing Miller’s testimony.

She would also note that the committee “learned of major inconsistencies between what the Biden administration has said publicly and the truth.”

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Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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